1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for removing floor covering including floor surfaces fabricated from hard materials such as concrete, epoxy and stone. More particularly, this invention describes a compact, hydraulicly powered rotary milling device specially housed and propelled for use inside residential and commercial buildings having narrow doorways.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is often necessary to remove floor covering, as for example in order to refinish floor surfaces when restoring or renovating a building. Floor coverings are composed of materials such as linoleum, tile, concrete, stone and epoxy, the latter of which are among the hardest construction materials. In order to remove hard floor coverings, the apparatus to be employed must be powerful and have cutting heads fabricated from even harder materials.
Apparatus for removing floor coverings are well known and understood, and often take the form of cutting heads and milling devices that are powered separately from the machines that propel them. U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,299, for example, describes a rotary cutting attachment for removing linoleum, tile, and other materials from floors that are attached to and pushed by an operator or small energized vehicle. Also known and understood are self-propelled vehicles, such as the ones described by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,082,330 and 5,197,783, to which cutting blades or attachments are secured.
Equipment powerful enough to remove hard floor surfaces are normally large and heavy. Floor surface in open areas and large industrial buildings can often accommodate large floor removal apparatus. Smaller industrial buildings, commercial and residential structures, however, have narrow doorways that do not permit the use of heavy equipment without opening a wall. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,082,330 and 5,197,783 describes small energized vehicles, sufficiently narrow to pass through a 36" doorway. These energized vehicles sometimes employ a structurally independent power source that attaches to the vehicle but remains outside the building.
Rotomills are rotary cutting apparatus well known in the field of removing and resurfacing of asphalt roadways. Rotomill apparatus can employ a variety of cutting heads or tips including tips made of material hard enough to mill hard floor surfaces. Prior art rotomills are not designed for use inside closed structures, and commercially available rotomills are too large to fit through standard doorways.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for removing floor surfaces composed of hard materials such as stone, concrete, and epoxy.
It is a further primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for removing floor surfaces that are sufficiently compact and narrow to be able to pass through doorways of residential and commercial buildings.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for removing floor surfaces that is easy to use, maneuver and operate, that can utilize commercially available cutting heads, power sources and propelling vehicles, and that is inexpensive to build and efficient to use.
It is a still further object of the present invention to adopt a rotomill for use in removing hard floor surfaces inside light industrial, commercial and residential buildings, such that the resulting apparatus is less than 36" wide and is powered and propelled by commercially available power sources and vehicles.